Google updates privacy policy

September 3, 2010

Google updated its privacy policy on Friday, a day after a video cartoon featuring the Internet firm's chief Eric Schmidt, pictured, giving away ice cream to snoop on children aired on a giant screen in Times Square.

Google updated its privacy policy on Friday, a day after a video cartoon featuring the Internet firm's chief giving away ice cream to snoop on children aired on a giant screen in Times Square.

"To be clear, we aren't changing any of our privacy practices; we want to make our policies more transparent and understandable."

Google simplified wording in its privacy policy, "cutting down the parts that are redundant and rewriting the more legalistic bits so people can understand them more easily," according to the attorney.

The California-based Internet giant packed more information into product help pages to make it easier to find and added a new privacy-tools page to the Google online Privacy Center, Yang said.

The announcement came a day after a nonprofit consumer rights group had a "Don't be evil?" animated clip shown on a "Jumbotron" screen above the masses coursing through Times Square in Manhattan.

A cartoon version of Google chief executive Eric Schmidt was shown cruising a residential neighborhood in an ice cream truck, spying on children and disclosing their parents' Internet browsing habits.

"We like ice cream as much as anyone, but we like privacy even more," Google said in response to an AFP inquiry regarding the video.

(AP) -- Officials from Germany, Canada, France and seven other countries are raising privacy concerns to Google over the online search leader's fumbled foray into social networking along with other matters.

On the theory that a driver who knows when a red light will turn green is more relaxed and aware, vehicle manufacturer Audi is unveiling this week in Las Vegas a technology that enables vehicles to "read" traffic signals ...

5 comments

They do offer privacy options. Also, their business strategies seem to be heading towards the goal of complete domination of the information we all share. Google Voice, transcription of all publications, becoming a residential ISP, lobbying against traditional ISPs, are all part of one strategy. I, for one, am not comfortable with the same company being a bandwidth and content provider at the same time. The same goes for Comcast.

Google doesn't want to dominate your information. They merely want to be a unified channel to make sure that your surfing of the internet is so easy and comfortable that you are always "eyes on" to the advertisements that pay their bills.

Do you think Ford wants to dominate where you go day-to-day because they spend billions on advertising and development to get you to buy their vehicles, including adding all kinds of ways to access your media content?

@MorituriMax: Considering that General Motors bought up all of the trollies back in the day to force people into buying cars, yah...I think companies will do some pretty screwed up things to society to make us use their products.

Once they acquire such domination, would it not be in their stockholders financial interest to start secretly manipulating the information to better steer those "eyes" ever more towards their REAL customers, the advertisers?

Actually the "user controlled privacy options" are as much a joke with Google as they are with Facebook. User can be allowed to e.g. delete data, but the deletion only makes it unavailable in the user interface. It does not delete the data from the background DBs.

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